Have you ever been led by someone who cared for you like family, and dared you to achieve more than you ever thought possible for yourself, your organization, and even society?

Award-winning author of Hostage at the Table, George Kohlrieser, along with his co-authors Susan Goldsworthy and Duncan Coombe, explain how becoming a secure base leader releases extraordinary potential in others.

Part of the Warren Bennis leadership series Care to Dare shows you how to become a Secure Base Leader so that you release your followers from the fears that get in the way of their performance. It shows you how you can unleash astonishing potential by building the trust, delivering the change, and inspiring the focus that underpins sustainable high performance.

Fromextensive interviews with executives from all over the world, as well as from surveys with more than a thousand executives, the book reveals the nine characteristics that Secure Base Leaders display on a daily basis. The research shows that a primary difference between a successful leader and a failed leader is the presence or absence of secure bases in his or her life.

Care to Dare will take you on a journey where you will discover your own secure bases, past and present, and determine how you can be a secure base for other people in your life at work and at home.

Product Description

Review

'Care to Dare is recommended to those who are interested in developing as leaders, especially in terms of their soft skills. If nothing else, it's worth reading for the fact it dares to champion the increasingly overlooked idea that leaders can be nice people too.' (Edge Magazine, 10th July 2012) ' A readable compendium of psychological theories of human motivation, inspirational stories and self-development tips.' (HR, August 2012) ' Offers and innovative and thought provoking interpretation of a well-established theme.' (Engineering & Technology Magazine, September 2012) 'The book's ideas are clearly expressed and greatly enhanced by numerous examples and anecdotes drawn from the authors' experiences.' (Times Higher Education Supplement, August 30th 2012) 'An unusual take on leadership that works well.' (Management Today, October 2012) '...full of well-presented, readable and useful material' (Professional Manager, November 2012)

From the Inside Flap

Care to Dare shows you how you to unleash the astonishing potential of the people around you by building the trust, delivering the change, and inspiring the focus that underpin sustainable high performance. You do so by becoming a “Secure Base Leader” who reduces anxiety and increases healthy risk-taking. Secure Base Leadership works at the personal, team and organizational levels. It is not just a set of skills (the “doing”). It is first and foremost a way of being. You care enough to dare people to reach for their dreams, and in the process, you can return to your very humanity.

The last tine I checked, Amazon offers 85,860 books on leadership for sale and 26,147 of them focus on business leadership. Why another? I offer two reasons. First, people have their own thoughts and experiences to share and at least a few of them summon the energy and determination as well as the talent required to write a book about them. Also, I think each book should be judged on its own merits. An 11th-century French monk, Bernard of Chartres (not Isaac Newton) was the first to suggest, "We are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants." The most prominent authorities on leadership during the last 50 years (such as Warren Bennis, Ron Heifetz, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, Jeffrey Pfeffer, and John Maxwell) once stood atop the shoulders of their own "giants." And so do George Kohlrieser, Susan Goldsworthy, and Duncan Coombe in this book as they explain how aspiring leaders can unleash "astonishing potential through Secure Base Leadership."

They identify nine characteristics that Secure Base Leaders demonstrate each day in their relationships with others. None is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. However, all are essential to effective leadership and the co-authors devote a separate chapter to each. Early in the book, they define some basic terms. "For the purposes of leadership development, we define a secure base as: a person, place, goal or object that provides a sense of protection, safety and caring [begin italics] and [end italics] offers a source of inspiration and energy for daring, exploration, risk taking and seeking challenge." They define Secure Base Leadership as a means by which to provide all that to others.Read more ›

The last tine I checked, Amazon offers 85,860 books on leadership for sale and 26,147 of them focus on business leadership. Why another? I offer two reasons. First, people have their own thoughts and experiences to share and at least a few of them summon the energy and determination as well as the talent required to write a book about them. Also, I think each book should be judged on its own merits. An 11th-century French monk, Bernard of Chartres (not Isaac Newton) was the first to suggest, "We are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants." The most prominent authorities on leadership during the last 50 years (such as Warren Bennis, Ron Heifetz, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, Jeffrey Pfeffer, and John Maxwell) once stood atop the shoulders of their own "giants." And so do George Kohlrieser, Susan Goldsworthy, and Duncan Coombe in this book as they explain how aspiring leaders can unleash "astonishing potential through Secure Base Leadership."

They identify nine characteristics that Secure Base Leaders demonstrate each day in their relationships with others. None is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. However, all are essential to effective leadership and the co-authors devote a separate chapter to each. Early in the book, they define some basic terms. "For the purposes of leadership development, we define a secure base as: a person, place, goal or object that provides a sense of protection, safety and caring [begin italics] and [end italics] offers a source of inspiration and energy for daring, exploration, risk taking and seeking challenge." They define Secure Base Leadership as a means by which to provide all that to others. Only those who possess a Secure Base can provide the leadership that Kohlrieser, Goldsworthy, and Coombe endorse in this book.

That point is made by a business tycoon, Victor Delahaye, in Benjamin Black's recently published novel, Vengeance, when he observes, "A man is not much if he can't depend on himself, and nothing if others can't depend on him."

They make brilliant use of several reader-friendly devices in Chapters One through Nine such as "Key Learnings" sections that stress especially important points Also, FAQ sections that pose questions that readers are most likely to ask as well as "Ask Yourself" and (self-audit) diagnostic assessments that enable readers to correlate material about SBL behaviors in the book with her or his own circumstances (strengths, weaknesses, needs, interests, goals, concerns, etc.). The purpose of various "Your Next Steps" sections is self-evident. To the extent that a book permits, Kohlrieser, Goldsworthy, and Coombe are determined to interact with each reader. For that reason, they immediately establish and then sustain a direct, personal rapport. They also insert throughout their narrative dozens of examples of real people in real-world situations who struggle - sometimes with mixed results - to develop both their own SBL core competencies and those in others for whom they are primarily responsible. Long ago, I realized that all great leaders possess a "green thumb" for "growing" others to become great leaders, also. First things first, however: Aspirants should focus on their development of the SBL's nine defining characteristics.

No brief commentary such as this can possibly do full justice to the scope and depth of information, insights, and counsel that George Kohlrieser, Susan Goldsworthy, and Duncan Coombe provide in this volume. However, I hope that I have at least indicated why I think highly of the material and how skillfully it is presented.

Care to Dare is a must read. Kohlrieser, Goldsworthy and Coombe have distilled through their research, nine characteristics of secure based leadership. They make the case for both, having and being a secure base leader, that's someone who believes in you and encourages you to take risks to achieve your potential. They take the reader through a journey of self-discovery and reflection and make a compelling case for humanizing leadership.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Care to Dare - Amazing leadership coaching and insights from three of the best executive coaches worldwideJan. 14 2013

By
Ingo Chakravarty
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Hardcover

The first book from George Kohlrieser "Hostage at the Table" was part of the welcome package that attendees received at IMD (Lausanne, CH) attending a one weeklong leadership program called "High Performance Leadership" (HPL). Since the author was the teaching Professor, it made sense though I didn't pay much attention to it initially.In short, the program had great impact on my leadership capabilities, my career and my personal life. The HPL program as well as the book "Hostage at the Table" is based on his teaching principle of Secure Base Leadership.I was so impressed by the power of Secure Base Leadership and Dr. Kohlrieser as a coach that I decided to attend the second program that Dr. Kohlrieser is offering called "Advanced High Performance Leadership" (AHPL). The experience and learning's from AHPL were exceptional and transformed my live.During that week at AHPL, I had the opportunity to not only working with George again but in addition to work with Susan Goldsworthy and Duncan Coombe who are incredible coaches as well.When I learned that George, Susan and Duncan released the book "Care to Dare", I could not wait to read it.The power of the book is linked to the extensive experience George, Susan and Duncan have individually and as a team. The many years of leadership coaching, academic research and hands on experience makes the book very strong.I have been allowed to interact with the team for days and experienced first hand the impact and power that comes form their teaching principle of Secure Base Leadership. When I read the book, I felt like being back in the room with George, Susan and Duncan. The structure of the book follows the real leadership programs quite a bit and allows the reader to explorer, learn and reflect on what the different insights mean to them and how they can be applied in their individual environment.The book assembles well the spirit of both leadership programs while being easy to read, well-structured and rich in content. A critical key to that are the real life examples that are used to illustrate the relevance of each subject, it's applicability and respective outcome.I am recommending the book to my immediate environment all the time based on its content quality, practicality and impact. The only group of folks to whom I would not recommend this book are individuals who are not serious about leadership but who want to have another book on the shelf in their office without even reading it.But if you are interested in learning about yourself and how to unfold your full potential as a leader who cares about people, their success and wellbeing, this is probably the best leadership-coaching book you have ever bought.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

A great book about being a leader, a productive human being and a good parentSept. 12 2012

By
Chen Zhao
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Hardcover
Verified Purchase

This is my first EVER review of anything on Amazon, and definitely the first book review. I have read many books, but none prompted me to actually spend my precious time to write a review. This book is worth it. I have to admit I did not expect it to attract me to read every line. Usually I am skeptical of "self-help"-like books. I am also skeptical of what one can actually do about improving leadership skills. I expected myself to read a few lines from each chapter, skimming it, and call it done.

But I ended up reading EVERY line so far (30% through) and I am anxious to read more. I am actually thinking "omg, this is so true" throughout the reading. This book helped me to pin point exactly why some managers I had were good and some were not. It helped me realize where I was not effective as a leader to my reports and where I was.

Most unexpectedly and a huge bonus is that this book is great for a parent who is eager to figure out how to lead their children to success. I can easily apply the advice to how I should build a relationship with my young sons so that they are set up for success later in life. Personally I struggle with the care and dare balance when it comes to my children and this book enlightened me.

Continued ...I finished the book a while ago (read everything, whenever I had free time) and now finally get the time to complete the review. One more thing I would say about this book is that the research behind it was very thorough. The authors are true academics who have the ability to distill the essense from volumes of previous academic works as well as primary research so that readers of this book can stand on the shoulders of giants. I feel that by reading this book, I benefited from all the materials that the authors researched.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

A MUST READ for anyone unsure about the real meaning of leadership.Oct. 11 2012

By
Suzanne Rosselet
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Hardcover

Care to Dare provides the building blocks for any amateur or chief executive to understand the fundamentals of real, genuine leadership - a concept used by many but understood by too few. Authors G. Kohlrieser, S. Goldsworthy and D. Coombe (combining 60 years of working with the concept) explore the core of true leadership qualities, built on trust and inspiration, which underpin high performance and provide the confidence (and caring) necessary for followers to take healthy risks and the leap of faith in their capabilities. The book is not a tick-off list of leadership skills, compared to so many other books on this obscure subject; it concentrates on a person's "being": the empathy and true caring that provide what the authors call "Secure Base Leadership". The very human nature of such leadership should be an inspiration to anyone reading this captivating book - Care to Dare not only helps us understand how to discover our secure bases but how we can become secure bases for others, building trust through bonding. Using the example of "belaying", the safety system used by rock climbers, Kohlrieser, Goldsworthy and Coombe explain how the climber (follower) can take the risks inherent in the climb because the belayer (leader) is providing the necessary safety. The book succinctly describes the nine characteristics of Secure Base Leadership, taking the reader on a journey of exploration and discovery of leadership based on humanity. This is a book that I will re-read often and share with many!